I use adobe premiere, but it is the type of software you will pull your hair out trying to learn. It isn't as easy as 1,2,3.. Also make sure you have a beefy machine to run it - it takes a good bit of disk space, memory, and processing power.

I use Adobe Premier LE for Macintosh. It is powerful, but I agree that it is not intuitive. I am currently switching to Apple's Final cut Pro. Have read rave reviews on online (non-skydiving) forums, and it is what alot of film schools use.

I use Ulead's Video Studio v4 and Media Studio Pro that came with my Pyro Fire wire card I'm pretty new to digital editing but have found them to be easy to use. They are probably somewhat limiting considering they were free with the fire wire card but I have had acceptable results so far.

If you have a chance...check out Sonic Foundry's Vegas Video. The best part is not having to render edits before reviewing your work. Of course you need to render the final product, but the big time savings is when you are changing your mind during the creation process. It's a spendy program at $400, but their cheaper product Video Factory might be worth looking at as well for $100. I agree that Adobe Premiere would be the tool of choice for most serious non-linear editors, but when it comes to learning the product, Vegas Video seemed to be a quicker way to go for me.

It all depends on just what you want to do with it. I am a Senior ENG Editor in a television newsroom. I've been editing professionally for 15 years (linear). At home I have a Sony Digital8 camera. (I don't fly camera *yet*, but edit at home on my PC as a hobby) I'm using Pinnacle's Studio DV, a simple and inexpensive program that came with capture card and firewire. No 3D fx, but for my needs it is fine. There is no limit on how much you can spend - and no limit on the capability of the top-end products. Just depends on your budget, I guess...

I have just got Mediastudio 6 and its the best from the ULEAD collection of software packages. I have played with ULEAD's studiovideo 5 and its good but only has 1 video line, 1 Title lin, a sound track line and a voice over line. In Media studio 6 you have 4 lines for video, 4 for special effects.... you know where Im going with this. Goto www.ulead.com and have a look around. If its a little too expesive there try some australian software sites and you will pick up a bargin

good question. i've used Apple's Final Cut Pro, and it was awesome. very intuitive, easy to learn and capable program. I've also attempting to use Premiere... which i had to get help with. I'd say Premiere is like Photoshop, and Final Cut is like Paint. if you can learn premiere it's probably better, but it's so difficult to get good at. either way, you definately need a big machine, lots and lots and lots of memory.

I use the Vegas Video Editor from Sonic Foundry...it is very user friendly and easy to learn. If you want to do complicated things with the video, make sure you have all the plug-ins and be creative. Also, the audio editing capabilities in this program is outstanding!

i use mgi's Video Wave to edit my video...it's alittle on the basic side, well okay it is very basic, but it is very easy to use. i didn't have a manual because i got it bunndled wwith my video card but i was up and using it in about 30 minutes. i like it alot. i tried to use premier once and it did look like it would take forever to learn.

<wingnut> "if dreams are like movies, then memories are like films about ghosts"-counting crows

I used to use Adobe Premiere, then I switched to Digital Origins' EditDV (went to dv camera) and now I use the Applied Magic Screen Play. THis is a prosumer editing box that is closed (not a computer) but is real time and EXTREMELY easy to use. So if you don't want to go nuts trying to use your computer to edit your footage take a look at this product. You can find them on the web @www.applied-magic.com

I'm video editing using the Adobe Premiere, and I didn't find it as hard to learn as people claim it is to be (yes- I haven't tried anything else ...but who needs anything else anyway ?) - but it DOES require a robust machine to run it. I really like the control you have over editing in the Premiere.

I use ULEAD products as well. ** Good tip : Australian dollar is very good at the moment for you guys over there, so you would be able to pick up the software very cheap if you go through a australian software company!

sorry to revive an old thread but since it is so old. i just ordered a new macbook pro. What program would yall recommend using for video editing now? Was considering getting the latest version of Final Cut pro but wanted to see what everybody else was using.

I edit full time on FCP7. A lot of the editors I've talked to don't like FCP10 due to it's layout being like iMOVIE. I'm guessing Apple is not going to go to it's FCP7 layout so if u have the cash, drop it on FCP10.

I've been a hardcore FCP fan for years until X with the exception of Vegas for Tandem workflows, But I'm re-learning Premiere again to give it a shot at being my NLE of choice.

Ditto. I use FCP6 at home, and FCP7 at work (Vegas at the DZ for Tandems only). But I know there will come a day when Apple won't support FCP legacy editions, and/or it won't work in newer computers. We just got the Adobe Suite at work, and it is an easier transition than going to FCPX. I still need to spend some time with it to get up to speed though. They don't have a simple "Share to DVD" function like FCP does (at least not that I have found). But the rest of the suite is very nice to have too (Photoshop, Encore, etc.)!